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by (Cinematographer: Joseph A. Valentine) (Producer: Henry Koster) (Editor: Bernard W. Burton) (Producer: Joe Pasternak) (Writer: Bruce Manning) (Writer: Lionel Houser)
Director: Henry Koster
ISBN: 6303929958
VHS Tape
Actor(s): Deanna Durbin, Robert Stack, Eugene Pallette, Helen Parrish, Lewis Howard
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Moderate wear on the case. VHS tape in very good condition. From private collection.
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Customer Reviews
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Deanna Durbin, all grown up and ready for romance!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-05-19
In 1939, singing sweetheart Deanna Durbin was eighteen years old, all grown up and ready for her very first screen romance. She found it in FIRST LOVE, a delightful spin on the "Cinderella" story, in which she co-stars with a young Robert Stack.
Orphaned Connie Harding (Deanna Durbin) has just graduated college and moved in with her rich uncle's family. The servants welcome her with open arms, but her snooty cousin Barbara (Helen Parrish) is another story. However, kind-hearted Connie always goes out of her way to be of help, even assisting Barbara's none-too-subtle plans to land handsome bachelor Ted Drake (Robert Stack). After she's stopped from attending a large party at Ted's mansion, heartsick Connie is given a helping hand by the kind servants who provide a beautiful new dress, white fur coat and a police escort to the party! But what will happen when Connie accidentally stays past midnight and loses her shoe whilst trying to flee from suspicious Barbara?
Love finally comes calling for Deanna in this, perhaps the most delightful of all her movies. This adorable "Cinderella" tale is a delight from start to finish. Impeccably cast, Durbin's co-stars include familiar faces like Eugene Pallette, Charles Coleman, Leatrice Joy and Marcia Mae Jones. Deanna sings her immortal "One Fine Day" from 'Madama Butterfly', plus "Amapola".
If you adore Deanna Durbin, you'll fall head over heels for FIRST LOVE...
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A sweet-natured re-telling of the Cinderella story, and a charming vehicle for 18-year-old Deanna Durbin
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-12-15
I'll take my Cinderella with Prokovief, but after watching First Love, a first-rate film with a quease-inducing title, I'll place this Deanna Durbin vehicle second.
"You go up there to New York," says Miss Wiggins, a crotchety, spinster music teacher, to Connie Harding, who has just graduated from a fancy private school. "Make those people love you just as much as we do." Connie is an orphan, and Miss Wiggins is referring to her uncle and his family, wealthy New Yorkers who have paid all her bills but were just too busy to drive down for her graduation. They sent one of the family's limousines for her. "And then," Miss Wiggins says, "maybe, someday, you will meet a prince, and you'll live happily ever after."
"Those fairy stories haven't come true for over 100 years, Miss Wiggins," Connie says.
Miss Wiggins thumps the floor with her cane. "Fiddlesticks! We just have to dust them off...streamline them a bit."
And this is what director Henry Koster, one of the best of Durbin's directors, has managed to do. He is aided immeasurably by a clever script ("This is terrible," says Barbara, Connie's awful cousin, "I can't be more than an hour and a half late to Wilma's party...she's one of my personal friends!") and solid, pungent performances by some very good character actors. The story's sweetness is genuine, based on the intrinsic sympathy for a young girl who manages to overcome obstacles with the help of others, and then finds happiness. Deanna Durbin at 18 is an intriguing combination of naturalness and skill. We like her the moment we see her, and her ability to win us over is enhanced when we meet the family. Her uncle (Eugene Pallette) is a gruff man who seemingly only wants to keep far away from his wife and children, as well as away from Connie. When we meet the rest of the family, we sympathize with him. His wife (Leatrice Joy) is unpleasantly scatter-brained. His daughter (Helen Parish), a year older than Connie, is a snobbish, selfish, manipulating terror. His son (Lewis Howard) is so languid he make laziness seem tiring.
There's a lavish ball, and Connie gets to go thanks to the intervention of the servants, led by that great butler-playing specialist, Charles Coleman. She meets a prince of a wealthy young man, Ted Drake (whom she met once before with mud on her face). When they waltz at the ball, all the other dancers fade away in a clever bit of instant love setting by Koster. Then Durbin receives her first screen kiss, from Robert Stack as Ted, as naturally as she acts. After the usual ups and downs for Cinderella, there's a happy ending which involves a matching slipper. Her uncle becomes the worm who turns, dealing brisk and satisfying retribution to his family, and even Miss Wiggins smiles. We are assured that Connie and Ted live happily ever after.
Durbin sings two or three songs, including the hoary old tear-jerker "There's No Place Like Home." More impressively, she sings "Un Bel Di." Impressively, because not many 18-year-olds I've heard of would be able to handle the emotions Puccini lays on with such a trowel. The aria is a tear-jerker, too, but a great one. It takes a singer who knows what she's doing to handle the emotions (in Italian) as well as the notes. Durbin carries it off impressively with her usual uncanny poise.
First Love, except for that title, is completely and satisfyingly charming. It's in the top two or three of Durbin's best films. The movie is one of six that come on two DVD discs as part of the Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack. It has a fine picture and audio transfer.
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First Kiss
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-04-12
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This movie is so sweet. Deanna Durbin shines in a role that could've been sweetly sick but instead often has spunk. Helen Parrish is awesome as her evil cousin and this movie has some great songs and some great scenes. Deanna's performance in this movie is so good that it makes one wonder what Deanna may have done with Wizard of Oz.
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Sweet Interpretation of Cinderella
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-01-16
Deanna Durbin stars in First Love, her own version of Cinderella. She plays a sweet, innocent, and friendly orphan named Connie who goes to live with her spoiled socialite cousin Barbara (Helen Parrish) when she graduates from an all girl's school. She wins over the staff with her well-trained singing voice and energy who encourage her to break her cousin's rigid rules and have a little fun. However, Barbara constantly tries to guilt Connie into doing things for her, such as feigning sick to stall her friends so she can sleep in. On this escapade, Connie runs into the guy everyone seems to love (Robert Stack) who becomes fascinated with the mysterious Connie. Later, they meet again when the staff helps Connie go to a party despite Barbara's efforts to detain her. There, Connie is a sensation, singing and dancing all night with a love-struck Ted. However, after being advised to leave by midnight to avoid running into Barbara and her mother, she leaves in a hurry leaving an enchanted Ted with only a shoe to remember her by.
It is strange how much Durbin and Parrish look alike, which really compliments the film. However, the two couldn't be more different in this film. They make the trite but true story of Cinderella come to life in a way different enough not to bore.
The music in this film is very much like an operetta, but one cannot deny Durbin's talent in this type of singing.
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Cinderella story with beautiful music.
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-11-06
First Love is a contemporary Cinderella story about an orphaned young woman (Deanna Durbin) sent to live with her wealthy, snobbish cousins, who jealously obstruct all her attempts to socialize, ultimately denying her access to the big ball. But the staff of their big house - butler, maids, cook, and chauffeur - make surreptitious arrangements for her, including a fabulous dress and detainment of the rest of the family. Of course Durbin's beautiful singing makes her the hit of the ball, until she has to run out at midnight missing one slipper. Eugene Pallette is great as her uncle, the only member of the family that's not stuck up, though he's too busy to prevent the situation. A very young Robert Stack has a small role equivalent to Cinderella's "Prince." I've seen 5 or 6 Deanna Durbin films, and this one's right in the middle. I didn't like it quite as much as Mad About Music, The Amazing Mrs. Holliday, or It Started With Eve, but it's clearly better than Can't Help Singing and Lady On A Train.
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What customers are saying…
Amazon.com Feedback Rating:
4.9 stars over the past 12 months (950 ratings)
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Recent Feedback
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4 out of 5: 2009-01-07
Book was out of stock and was refunded by seller in a timely fashion.
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5 out of 5: 2009-01-07
Excellent condition-thanks!
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4 out of 5: 2009-01-07
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5 out of 5: 2009-01-07
Pleased
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5 out of 5: 2009-01-07
On time and as described! Thanks!
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